News of Note
Operation Iraqi Freedom
President Sets Course for 'Different Victory' in Iraq - TRANSCRIPT - VIDEO
INSTANT VIEW: Reactions to speech
Analysis: Bush speech draws lines
Troop boost will mean longer tours
Iraq PM tells Shiite militias to give up
War-weary Americans weigh new Bush plan
Military.com Blog: Iraqi Army Goes on the Offensive
Military.com Podcast: Galloway Questions Troop Hike
Baghdad Operation Nets 15 Insurgents

Homeland Security / War on Terror / Hamas-Hezbollah Happenings
U.S. Calls Off Second Attack on Somalia
U.S. reportedly targeted 20 in Somalia
Rights groups urge U.S. to shut Guantanamo prison
Hamas leader says Israel's existence is a reality

Other Military News
Defense workers warned about spy coins
Wallet Lost in WWII Returned to Vet

Worldwide Wackos
Venezuela's Chavez Vows 'Socialism or Death'

Homegrown Moonbats
Trump, 'View' War Goes Nuclear - VIDEO
Rosie O'Donnell Will Probably Leave 'The View'

Politics / Government
Corruption Probe Targets No. 2 Interior Official
Ex-Rep. Barr Questioned Over 'Borat' Cameo
House Passes $2.10 Minimum Wage Boost
White House stands firm in stem cell debate
Congress mulls how to expand health insurance
Sen. Kennedy seeks universal health plan
Pelosi bans smoking near House floor
Military.com Op-ed: Bush Destroying the Republicans

Immigration / Border Control
Latino Group Blames Illegals' Crimes on U.S.

U.N. News
U.N. to reassess peacekeepers in Darfur border area
Sudan: U.N. forces not needed in Darfur
Ban vows close ties to business sector, Washington

Media in the Media / Bloggers in the News / Watching the Web
Newspaper publishers discuss ad network

Science / Nature
EU challenges world with new climate change target

News from My Neck of the Woods
Sen. Dodd to Announce Bid for President (Be afraid...be very afraid)
Yale A Cappella Group Attacked Outside Party (Right after singing the National Anthem)

Oddities
Virginia Butt-Printing Art Teacher Fired (Yep, your tax dollars at work, Virginia)
I Vant a Realtor: Dracula's Castle Up for Sale?
Florida Woman Puts Baby in Heated Oven
Reality TV Star Carolina Gynning Auctions Off D-Cup Breast Implants for Charity (What the...)
Another Airplane Scorpion Attack; Vermont Passenger Stung Multiple Times
Dolce & Gabbana condemned over knife ads
False priest arrested for selling Pope tickets
Austrian skis nude after losing bet

Other News of Note
Students Kicked Off Bus for Speaking English (Un-FLIPPING believable)
Barbaro suffers significant setback

Fox News
Cisco Sues Apple Over Use of iPhone Name
Study: 744,000 Homeless in U.S. in 2005
Cops Find Body in Search for Missing Co-Ed
Hunt for Pickup in Missing Teen Case - VIDEO
New Jersey Nets Star Jason Kidd Files Divorce Papers Claiming He's An Abused Spouse

Reuters: Top News
Belarus resumes Russian oil flow, ending 3-day halt
Part of missing Indonesian plane, body found in sea
Wal-Mart says supports minimum wage increase
Skype says time is not ripe for cellphone version
Retailers back Warner Bros DVD combination
Remote Chinese city pins hopes on Olympic boom
Obesity operations jump in United States
Walgreen selling cigarette in a hand gel across U.S.
Celebrity swag bags get lighter after tax crunch
"Housewives" to film in pregnant star's home
Oil falls 1.2 percent to 19-month low - Video
Tech optimism lifts indices
Nikkei edges up on Tokyo Electron, Matsushita
Apple slips after Cisco suit announced
Analyst raises Blockbuster price target
Reuters Regulation Summit
SEC's Compos: Proxy access needed
Audio: Compos wants pilot program
The more things change ...
Erik Dellith spots PPG on the radar
eBay to buy ticketer StubHub for $310 million
Lucentis,cancer drugs lift Genentech profit
CanWest, Goldman to buy Alliance for C$2.3 billion
Auto parts suppliers seen ripe for consolidation
Nationwide Health forms joint venture

AP World News
Turtle thought extinct found in Thailand
Matthew Fox talks about his dark side
Dow ends up 26 after upbeat Alcoa news
Coughlin to coach Giants through 2008
Fla. trailer park OKs megabucks sellout
'Munsters' star Yvonne De Carlo dies
New search engine for aging boomers
Antarctic explorer's letters made public
Movie producer Carlo Ponti dies

Military.com
Veteran's Benefits Calculator
Play Trivia and Win an iPod
Ten Step Guide to Joining the Military

CENTCOM: News Releases
1ST IRAQI ARMY DIVISION ASSUMES CONTROL OF 2ND BRIGADE

SOLDIERS CONDUCT HUMANITARIAN MISSION IN AL QOSH

SIX SUSPECTS DETAINED IN JOINT OPERATION

OPERATION SEIZES TWO BOMB SUSPECTS

1-8 CAVALRY TRAINING IRAQI NATIONAL POLICE

CARE PACKAGES STRIKE A CHORD WITH AVIATION TROOPS

DARKNESS PROVIDES REALISTIC TRAINING FOR 1/34 SOLDIERS 13TH SC(E)

IA SOLDIERS DISTRIBUTE BLANKETS TO FAMILIES IN NEED

MAHMUDIYAH QADAA MEETING GOES ON DESPITE DOUBLE CAR BOMBING ATTACK

TROOPS DETAIN 21 SUSPECTS IN EARLY MORNING RAIDS IN SW BAGHDAD

MND-B ENGAGES IN ANTI-INSURGENT OPERATION MULTI-NATIONAL DIVISION

USJFCOM
U.S. Joint Forces Command bringing together military, interagency for Multinational Experiment 5 - podcast
2006 -- The Year in Review
USJFCOM gets approval to connect U.S., Australian networks - podcast

Department of Defense
NEWS UPDATES
Guantanamo Still Important,Relevant in War on Terror - Story
Stability & Security in Iraq Report (pdf)
For Top News Visit DefenseLink

ON THE GROUND
New Networks Monitor Power Distribution in Iraq - Story
Troops Help Iraqis Secure Neighborhood - Story
Cavalry Troops Teach Iraqis Advanced First Aid - Story
U.S. Soldiers Give Wheelchairs to Iraqis in Need - Story
U.S., Local Officials Dedicate Dire Dawa School - Story

IN IRAQ
Iraqi-American Soldier Returns to Homeland
Terror Suspects Captured in Meat-Packing Plant
Soldiers Clean Up with Help of Quartermaster
New Commander Discusses Challenges in Iraq
Marines Improve Conditions in Iraqi Bunkers
Iraqi Soldiers Pressure Insurgents in Baghdad
Soldiers Spruce up Observation Point
Maliki Joins Troops in Celebrating Army Day
Iraqi Army, Police Team Up for Baghdad Ops
Soldiers Celebrate Three Kings Day in Iraq
Building Becomes ‘Shining Light’ for Tal Afar
Iraqi Trainers Graduate 120 From Police Academy

IN AFGHANISTAN
277th Named Army’s ‘Top Aviation Battalion’
Panjshir Team Helps to Repair Mosque

BACKGROUND
IRAQ
Renewal In Iraq
Iraq: Security, Stability
Fact Sheet: Progress and Work Ahead
Report: Strategy for Victory in Iraq
Iraq Daily Update
This Week in Iraq
Multinational Force Iraq
State Dept. Weekly Iraq Report (PDF)
'Boots on the Ground' Audio Archive
Weekly Reconstruction Report (PDF)
Iraq Reconstruction
Maps

AFGHANISTAN
Afghanistan Update
Maps

WAR ON TERRORISM
Fact Sheet: Budget Request
Fact Sheet: War on Terror
Fact Sheet: Terror Plots Disrupted
Waging and Winning the War on Terror
Terrorism Timeline
Terrorism Knowledge Base

CASUALTIES
Officials Identify Marine Casualty - Story

Weather
Afghanistan
Bost/Laskar Ghurian Herat Kabul Qandahar

Germany
Ansbach Aschaffenburg Berlin Berlin-Tempelhof Berlin/Schonefeld Bremerhaven
Darmstadt Frankfurt Frankfurt/Main Freiburg/Breisgau Garmisch
Garmisch-Partenkirchen Geilenkirchen Gelnhausen Giessen Kitzingen
Hanau Am Main Heidelberg Mainz Mannheim Nurnberg Stuttgart Trier
Wiesbaden Wurzburg

Gitmo

Guam
Agana Agana Heights Agat Andersen AFB Asan Barrigada

Iraq
Al Azamiyah Al Basrah Al Hillah Al Karkh Al Kazimiyah Al Kut
An Nasiriyah Baghdad Baqubah Mosul Najaf Nineveh Tall Kayf

Japan
Kadena Air Base Okinawa Tokyo Yokohama

Philippines
Baler Radar Site Catanduanes Radar Site Manila

South Korea
Cheju Upper/Radar Chonju Chunchon Inch'on Kunsan Masan Mokp'o
Osan Pusan Seoul Suwon Taegu Taejon Tonghae Radar Site Ulsan Yosu

* If you're deployed, and want to see your location's weather listed here, please email me! *

Today in History
0314 - St Militiades ends his reign as Catholic Pope
0532 - Nika-revolt against Justianus & Theodora in Hippodrome, Constantinople
0705 - John VI ends his reign as Catholic Pope
1158 - Vladislav II of Bohemia becomes king
1558 - Westmunster Church in Middelburg destroyed by heavy storm
1569 - 1st recorded lottery in England is drawn at St Paul's Cathedral
1571 - Emperor Maximilian II grants Austrian adel freedom of religion
1693 - Mt Etna erupts, Sicily
1753 - Ferdinand VI of Spain & Pope Benedictus XIV sign concord
1758 - Russian troops occupy Königsberg, East-Prussia
1759 - 1st American life insurance company incorporated, Philadelphia
1774 - Messier adds M51 (spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici) to his catalog
1775 - Francis Salvador becomes 1st Jew elected to office in America (SC)
1785 - Continental Congress convenes in New York City NY
1787 - Titania & Oberon, moons of Uranus, discovered by William Herschel
1790 - Statisten & Vonckisten unite as Belgium
1803 - Monroe & Livingston sail for Paris to buy New Orleans; they buy Louisiana
1805 - Michigan Territory is organized
1813 - 1st pineapples planted in Hawaii
1839 - Earthquake at Martinique destroys half of Port Royal-700 die
1861 - Alabama becomes 4th state to secede; Mexico City captured by Juárez (Liberal) in War of the Reform
1863 - Naval engagement near Galveston between CSS Alabama & USS Hatteras; Union forces capture Arkansas Post, or Fort Hindman, AR
1865 - Battle of Beverly, WV
1866 - Steamship London sinks in storm off Land's End, England, kills 220
1879 - Zulu war against British colonial rule in South Africa begins
1892 - William D. McCoy of Indiana appointed US minister to Liberia
1897 - M.H. Cannon becomes 1st woman state senator in US (Utah)
1904 - Herero people of South West Africa, now Namibia, begin uprising
1913 - 1st sedan-type car (Hudson) goes on display at 13th Auto Show (New York City, NY); Bread & Roses Strike begins
1916 - French troops capture/Serbian army flees to Corfu
1919 - 3 year old German communist party (Spartacus) crushed; Romania annexes Transylvania
1920 - French passenger ship Afrique sinks near La Rochelle; 553 die
1922 - Insulin 1st used to treat diabetes (Leonard Thompson, 14, of Canada)
1923 - French & Belgian troops occupy Ruhr to collect reparations
1925 - Franc B. Kellogg replaces Charles Hughes as US Secretary of State
1935 - Amelia Earhart flies non-stop from Honolulu, HI to Oakland, CA
1936 - Charles Anderson enters Kentucky House of Representatives
1938 - Frances Moulton elected 1st woman president of a US national bank
1942 - Japan conquers Kuala Lumpur, Malaya
1943 - US & Britain relinquish extraterritorial rights in China
1944 - Crakow-Plaszow Concentration Camp established
1946 - People's Republic of Albania established; Enver Hoxha declares People's Republic of Albania with himself dictator
1949 - Snowfall 1st recorded in Los Angeles
1960 - Chad declares independence from France
1962 - Nelson Mandela leaves South Africa, travels to Ethiopia, Algeria & England; Volcano Huascaran in Peru, erupts; 4,000 die
1963 - 1st discotheque opens, The Whiskey-a-go-go in Los Angeles CA
1964 - US Surgeon General Luther Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous; Panamá ends diplomatic relations with US
1966 - 550 die in landslides in mountains behind Rio de Janeiro after rain
1968 - Explorer 36 (GEOS-B) launched into earth orbit (1080/1570 km)
1971 - 1st "Quickie" Divorce granted in UK
1972 - Abu Sayeed Chudhury becomes president & sheik Mujib ur-Rahman premier; East-Pakistan becomes independent state of Bangladesh
1973 - Trial of the Watergate burglars begins in Washington DC
1975 - Soyuz 17 carries 2 cosmonauts to space station Salyut 4
1976 - Military coup in Ecuador, President Guillermo Lara leaves
1977 - France releases Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of involvement in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics
1978 - Soyuz 27 links with Salyut 6 & Soyuz 26 (1st time 3 spacecraft link)
1981 - British team led by Ranulph Fiennes completes longest & fastest crossing of Antarctica, reaching Scott base after 75 days (2,500 miles); Palau adopts constitution
1982 - Atlanta GA's temperature goes below zeroº F; Honduras adopts constitution
1984 - Supreme Court reinstated $10M award to Karen Silkwood's family
1986 - 1st black Lieutenant-Governor since reconstruction sworn in (Douglas Wilder of Virginia)
1989 - 140 nations agree to ban chemical weapons (poison gas, etc); Kindergarten student caught with loaded handgun at Bronx school
1990 - 200,000 demand return of Lithuania's independence
1991 - Congress empowers George H.W. Bush to order attack on Iraq; Soviets storm buildings in Vilnius to block Lithuania independence
1992 - Algeria's President Chadli announces his resignation
1993 - Independent presidential candidate Ross Perot publicly returns to politics
1994 - Irish government announces end of a 20-year broadcasting ban on IRA
1995 - DC-9 crashes near Maria La Baya, Colombia 51 die, 9 yr old girl lives
1996 - Space Shuttle STS 72 (Endeavour 10), launches into space
1997 - Telstar 401 Satellite Fails

Birthdays
1403 - Jan IV, Duke of Brabant/Limburg
1720 - Gijsbert John van Hardenbroeck, Utrechts regent
1757 - Alexander Hamilton, 1st US Secretary of Treasury ($10 face)
1807 - Alfred Eugene "Mudwall" Jackson, Confederate Brigadier General
1814 - James Paget English surgeon (disease of Paget); Richard Griffith, Confederate Brigadier General
1815 - Sir John A. MacDonald (C), 1st PM of Canada (1867-73)
1816 - Fitz-Henry Warren, Union Brevet Major General
1818 - John Reese Kenly, Union Brevet Major General
1831 - James Ronald Chalmers, Confederate Brigadier General
1852 - Konstantin Fehrenbach, German chancellor (1920-21)
1878 - Theodorus Pangalos, Greek General /dictator (1926)
1903 - Alan Paton, South African writer (Cry, the Beloved Country)
1904 - Frederick Boland, Irish diplomat/President (UN General Assembly)
1905 - Pierre Mendes-France, French Premier (1954-55)
1906 - Albert Hofmann, chemist (discovered LSD)
1910 - Trygve Martin Bratteli, Norwegian PM (Labour) (1971-72, 1973-76)
1912 - Roger Lewis, aviation exec (Lockheed, Curtiss Wright, Pan Am)
1916 - James H. (Jimmy) Quillen (Representative-TN, 1963-1997)
1922 - Neville Duke, English test pilot
1926 - Grant Tinker, broadcasting executive (NBC-TV); Lev Stepanovich Demin, cosmonaut (Soyuz 15)
1934 - Jean Chrétien, Canada PM (Liberal, 1993-2003)

Passings
0705 - John VI, Catholic Pope (701-05)
1055 - Constantine IX Monomachos, emperor of Byzantium
1775 - Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev, Cossack rebel, executed by tsarist Russia
1797 - Francis Lightfoot Lee, US farmer (signer Declaration of Independence), dies at 62
1843 - Francis Scott Key, composer (Star Spangled Banner), dies at 63
1891 - Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French senator/baron, dies at 81
1893 - Benjamin F. Butler, US General /presidential candidate (anti-monopoly), dies at 74
1914 - Ambrose Bierce, writer, dies at 71
1923 - Constantine I, King of Greece (1913-17, 20-22), dies at 54
1929 - Julio Antonio Mella, Cuban revolutionary, murdered at about 28
1943 - Carlo Tresca, NY's Italian newspaper editor/anti-fascist, murdered
1944 - Galeazzo, Count of Cortellazzo Ciano, Italian politician
1952 - Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, General (North-Africa/Indo-China), dies at 61
1953 - Ernst H. Ridder Rappard, Dutch Nazi founder (NSNAP), dies at 53; Noach Zjordanija, Georgian Premier (1918-21), dies at 84
1955 - Rodolfo Graziani, Italian East-Africa Minister of Defense, dies at 72
1959 - Dr Mohammed Zakaria Ghoneinl discoverer of 6,000 year old pyramid
1966 - Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian premier (1964-66), dies at 61
1983 - Nikolaj V. Podgorny, president USSR, dies at 79
1988 - Gregory (Pappy) Boyington, ace WWII pilot, dies at 75 of cancer; Isidor Isaac Rabi, nuclear physicist (Nobel Prize-1944), dies at 89
1995 - Adrian J. "Ad" Kaland, Dutch MP (CDA 1977-93), dies at 72

Reported Missing in Action
1966
Godfrey, Johnny Howard, USAF (AZ); A1H shot down, KIA, body not recovered

1968
The following USN personnel reported MIA when their OP2E crashed; all determined KIA, body not recovered:
Anderson, Denis L. (KS)

Buck, Arthur C. (OH)

Mancini, Richard M. (NY)

Olson, Delbert A. (ND); pilot

Roberts, Michael L. (MS)

Siow, Gale R. (CA)

Stevens, Phillip P. (MI)

Thoresen, Donald N. (MI)

Widon, Kenneth H. (MI)

1970
Chorlins, Richard David, USAF (MO); A1H shot down, KIA, body not recovered